I suppose some introductions are in order, my name is Boss Coffee (well, that's not my real name, har har) and this is my new blog "Big Cup O' Wrestling". This blog will cover all things "pro wrestling", whether it be the big leagues, the indy leagues, puroresu, lucha libre and everything in between. I might review events I've attended, review indy DVD releases, cover current news, or whatever else I get the impulse to talk about. I'm not really going to into the detail of the how's and why's of my fandom since that would take forever, just know that I've been a wrestling nut for the better portion of my existence and I thought I would share my love with any one interested/willing to read my ramblings, enjoy!
With this, my ever so important first column, I will be reviewing a DVD release from the Philly-based indy promotion CHIKARA, the first night of their annual event "King of Trios 2009", whooo!
I should probably give a little bit of a background into who and what Chikara is. Chikara started out as a training facility that opened it's doors in 2002 with "Lightning" Mike Quakenbush and "Reckless Youth" Tom Carter as the trainers. Since then they've grown into a full blown indy promotion of its own, not only are they responsible for training many current and future stars but have made waves in the industry with their unique style that blends the speed of Mexican lucha libre with the intensity of Japanese puroresu and mixing it all with a unique take on gimmicks and characters. All this adds up to Chikara having a style all it's own.
Enough with the introductions, lets dive right in!
King of Trios 2009, Night 1
King of Trios, 16 teams, 48 men, Tournament style elimination.
(I've always been a sucker for Tournaments, not sure why)
-Match #1 - Team Epic War vs. The F1rst Family
Team Epic War = Austin Aries, Ryan Drago, and Tony Kozina
The F1rst Family = Arik Cannon, Ryan Cruz, Darin Corbin
Before I start the review of the match, let me share with you a promo from "Team Epic War" that played before the match, it's fucking gold.
Seeing Aries play the super fan friendly guy is so incredibly bizarre considering his recent actions over at his home promotion of "Ring of Honor", yet he plays the character so perfectly. "I love the fans!"
Team Epic War make their way out first with Megadeth's cover of the Duke Nukem theme as their entrance music, odd, but I can dig it. Once they hit the ring Austin is really playing up his super babyface (or good guy) character to the extreme, running around the ring slapping hands and whatnot, all the while Drago looks on in disgust while Kozina just looks confused. Next comes out their opposition, The F1rst Family (I'm getting as sick of writing it like that as I am sure you are of reading it) who come out to some sort of bubbly pop music, which is not only obnoxious, but confusing considering Arik Cannon's "punk" gimmick, oh well, whatever.
I'm not going to necessarily going to go hold by hold here, just cover things that stood out to me. Through out the match Drago really impressed me with not only his ability, but his heel (bad guy) character which was in direct contrast to Aries. Don't really know anything about the guy or his tag partner Kozina even though he supposedly has 12 years of experience, neither guy must get off the west coast much, which is a shame. As the match continues, Aries' antics get even wackier as he starts to apparently channel the spirit of Tatanka (wait, he's not dead, is he?) as he marches around the ring chopping all three members of the F1rst Family, the crowd is completely eating up his shananagins. For a good portion of the match, Cruz and Corbin played punching bags to Epic War's offensive. At one point, Tony Kozina broke out a nearly awesome top rope head scissor to the outside, but kind of fucked it up since he couldn't completely get his opponent over the rope with out a little bit of help from Aries, still looked pretty cool. Soon after Arik Cannon hits Ryan Drago with a brutal Backdrop Driver, a move that always looks vicious, don't believe me? Look it up on Youtube, I can't imagine it's a pleasant sensation. To finish the match off, Corbin and Cruz hit some sort of reverse flap jack double team maneuver to put away Drago and win the match for the F1rst Family (my spell check hates me).
After the conclusion, because he's just such a nice guy, Aries starts to dance a bit to the F1rst Family's theme music and then proceeds to shake all of their hands to show he is a good sport, Drago on the other hand just leaves, what a heel!
All and all, the match was very solid, good timing all around. Team Epic War's team dynamic was great with all three members playing very different characters, on the other side, The F1rst Family was just kinda "there" when it came to charisma but still performed very well. Kinda wish Epic War won since it would have been interesting to see more of that team dynamic in later matches, oh well, can't win 'em all I suppose.
- Match #2 - Osirian Portal vs. Team Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
Osirian Portal = Amasis, Ophidian, Escorpion Egipcio
Team PWG = El Generico, Nick and Matt Jackson (The Young Bucks)
Not much to say about the Portal's entrance, except that Escorpion really stands out, the guy is so much bigger then his teammates. Next out is Team PWG, captained by a personal fav of mine, El Generico, followed by one of the most talked about tag teams in all of the indys, the Young Bucks. Though all three men make a presence all over both the US and Canada, they have chosen to represent California-based promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. For reasons I don't completely understand, The Young Bucks choose to come out to Hanson's "Mmmbop", quite possibly one of the most grating and annoying songs ever written (I really think I'm not alone in this assumption). This is just a personal gripe, but it really seems like the Young Bucks go out of their way to make it difficult for the average fan to cheer for them. Their in ring ability is amazing, and their innovative tag team offense will always get the crowd cheering, but most everything else they do seems like they are trying to antagonize the fans into booing them. I mean, their look is a good place to start, they look like the Hardy Boys circa the early 90's, really what is with the tassels? Just say no to tassels! "The Incredibles" said no to capes, I'm saying no to tassels! Combine that with their music and some of their mannerisms and it just screams something the people are going to want to boo, if this is what they are going for so that they can transition into some sort of eventual heel turn then they are doing a absolutely fantastic job, if not, then I don't know what else to say. Wow, perhaps I should move on to the actually match, sorry 'bout that.
El Generico and Amasis start things off for this match. Amasis begins the match some of his signature dancing and begins to dance right out of Generico's various holds, much to his frustration. Generico retaliates with a bit of his own footwork, much to the delight of the crowd, even though his moves may not be as funky as Amasis'. Escorpion in now, this is the first time I've seen a match with Escorpion and I was intrigued to see what he could do. From little I read about him, he kinda had a bad rep, and sadly, now I see why. By no means is he awful, but from little offense he had in this match he looked painfully out of place, always off by a few steps, and downright confused at where he should be at times, I don't really know much about his past, so I'm not sure if this is just a lack of experience or if it's something else. Next in is Ophidian, quickly showing off how he earned his snake gimmick with some of his amazing quickness and agility. He goes on to have a great series of back and forth action with Nick Jackson. On a side note, I've clearly watched too much wrestling since Ophidian's mask no longer looks weird to me. The Young Bucks gain control of the match and begin to show off some of their very impressive tag team maneuvers, such as an especially impressive atomic drop/spinning neck breaker combo, nice! The Portal begins to regain control of the match with some of their own tandem offense, which kind of comes off a little sloppy looking mostly due to the out of place Escorpion (I'm starting to feel bad, like I'm picking on him or something). As the match continues and the Portal stays in control, Amasis decides to mock the ever so famous People's Elbow which gets him quite the negative reaction, nice move on his part to keep the crowd against him. The match begins to dissolve into your typical multi-man melee with various wrestlers in and out of the ring trying to hit that one big maneuver to put the other team away. Nick Jackson hits a particularly impressive springboard moonsault, which makes me wish for an eventual Young Bucks vs. Osarian Portal rematch. Time to bash Escorpion some more, Mike Quackenbush is on commentary during this match and he keeps trying to put over Escorpion as a big threat, saying things like "he's poised to strike" when it really looks like he's just standing there waiting for his cue. Out of nowhere, Ophidian rolls El Generico up with a prawn hold for the surprise victory.
Even with some rough spots involving Escorpion, the match was still a lot of fun. Great tag team maneuvers from both the Young Bucks and the Portal. Lots of great high flying and it's a plus to get to see my boy Generico compete. Ole!
- Match #3 - The Roughnecks vs. Team Uppercut
The Roughnecks = Eddie Kingston, Brodie Lee, Grizzly Redwood
Team Uppercut = Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Dave Taylor
Pre-Match Promo, certainly worth a watch, Kingston at his best as usual:
"...and the Grizz...we had to get a third person."
Bryan Danielson is (or I suppose I should say was, since we just signed with WWE) one of the biggest names in all of independent wrestling. His technical ability is unmatched and his sheer intensity in unmistakable. Now that I'm done jerking his ego, let me just say that it is great to see Danielson in Chikara for what I believe is his first time, and it also great to see him get a such a positive reaction from the fans. With guys like Danielson and now Nigel McGuiness getting signed up by the big leagues, it makes you wonder why they haven't signed up Claudio, he's tall, in great shape, and fantastic in the ring. The only thing working against him is his thick accent, but that still isn't enough to explain his current situation. Oh well, I wish the best for him.
The match begins with Eddie Kingston demanding that he wants to start the match against Danielson, much to the delight of the crowd since this would probably be a first time meeting between the two indy superstars, but just as Danielson looks ready to lock up, Kingston bails, tags in Grizzly, and then flicks off Danielson, classic! If you've never seen Grizzly Redwood compete let me explain something, the guy is an absolute freak of nature. Now hold on, let me explain, I really mean that in a sort of positive way, yes he is very short, like under five feet short, but the guy is freakishly ripped, it looks literally unreal. Before Griz and Danielson lock up, they start to have some sort of flex-off which is quickly ended when Kingston decides to show off his gut; Kingston, not your typical looking wrestler to say the least, tough as nails though. Though Griz makes nice with Danielson with a handshake, much to the disapproval of his teammates, he is quickly cornered and dismantled by all three members of Team Uppercut, some one call child services! Danielson, being the well known wrestler that he is, has a few iconic chants that follow him around, one in particular basically goes "You're going to get your fucking head kicked in!", this chant is so well known that it can be heard in some of his Japanese matches which is a trip to hear. Anyways, not surprisingly, the chant has followed him to Chikara, but since it is a "family-friendly" promotion the fans censor themselves by replacing "fucking" with "effing", nice touch Chikara fans. The match so far has been pretty heavy on the comedy, but things start to get a little more serious as Team Uppercut begins to barrage Kingston with a serious of, well, uppercuts. Dave Taylor is really fired up for this match which is great to see out of legit legend like him. Perhaps a bit to fired up considering that he begins to climb to the top of the turn buckle and then signals for a SSP (uhh..a big flippy maneuver) but has to be talked down be his team mates, funny stuff. The match slows down as The Roughnecks are able to gain control on Danielson and begin to work over his knee. Danielson tries to fight back, specifically with a triangle choke on Brodie, but only for Grizz to run in and cause more damage to the already injured knee. Eventually Danielson makes the hot tag to Taylor who begins to clean house and when Grizz tries to slow him down he is meet with a huge boot from Claudio for his troubles, looks like he damn near took his head off with that one. Claudio quickly grabs Grizz by the legs and proceeds to put him into The Big Swing. Since Griz is so small, Claudio is able to keep the move going for an unbelievable amount of time, the crowd counts to a hundred rotations which is an awesome sight to see, even if it was probably more like 80-85. Easily a new record in people swinging! Both men look legit sick after the move, but before Grizz can even begin to shake things off, Danielson quickly locks in his signature submission move, Cattle Mutilation for the win.
Since I would like to encourage people to actually go out and buy the DVD's and support Chikara, I wasn't planning on including any actually footage of the matches, but I just had to include this:
Not exactly what you would call a wrestling clinic, but the match was still a lot of fun. Lots of great comedy all around and it was fun to see guys like Danielson and Taylor just out there having fun. And lets not forget that record breaking Big Swing, crazy. Speaking of which, Grizz got a big pop from the crowd as he was leaving which was nice to see, easily deserves after what he went through.
- Match #4 - Team CZW vs. Da Soul Touchaz
Team CZW = Pinkie Sanchez, Beef Wellington, Greg Excellence
Da Soul Touchaz = Marshee Rocket, Willie Richardson, Trauma
Pre-match promo from Touchaz, not really much to say, just basically introducing themselves, nothing special.
Team CZW comes out and gets a pretty big reaction which really shouldn't come as a surprise considering that CZW largely operates out of this very Arena (largely known as the "ECW Arena" though it has been renamed to the ever so creative "The Arena", blah). During the entrance, Pinkie jumps on a table but as soon as he does two of the legs buckle and Pinkie slides right off but is able to stay on his feet, good save. Touchaz make their way to the ring with Soulja Boy as their entrance music, not going to lie, really dislike that song, ugh. Touchaz really trying to play to the crowd, but it really seems to be a waste of effort since the crowd seems to be more behind the their local CZW boys. Mitch Ryder on commentary for this one, worth mentioning since I wasn't even aware he was still with the company at this point, odd. My notes are a little rough for this one, so bare with me. Not sure who started this one, but at some point both Beef and Willie were in the ring but before they could lock up, Beef demands a mike. With mike in hand, Beef begins to rap a dead on version of "Ice, Ice, Baby" and gets so into it that he is able to make Willie rap the last line, crowd loves it and so do I. The madness only continues as both Greg Excellence and Trauma climb into the ring, but before they can get started, Sugerhill Gang's "Apache" starts to play over the loud speakers and we are treated to a very bizarre dance off of sorts which ends with even the ref getting a few moves in. When it comes to actual ability and wrestling, Rocket and Pinkie seem to be the respective stars of their teams, fast back and fourth action from both of them. As the match continues, most of the wrestlers end up outside the ring brawling and in doing so, are rewarded with a huge (and I mean HUGE) dive from Willie, I don't think anyone will ever confuse him for a cruiserweight any time soon. Greg Excellence is able to recover and climb in the ring just in time to hit a very impressive rope assisted Pedigree on Marshee Rocket for what you would think would be the finish, but Willie is able to hit Greg with a HUGE top rope leg drop for the finish.
Pretty average match, didn't really expect much, and that's pretty much what I got. Unique comedy from Team CZW and some pretty impressive offensive from Rocket and Pinkie, sadly Rocket wasn't really given a chance to shine like I would have liked to have seen. There's always next round I suppose. Oh yeah, that rope assisted Pedigree was awesome.
Wow, only half way through night one and look how long this shit has already gotten! Alright, I'm going to go ahead and cut this sucker in half for the time being, I'll get the other half up hopefully by Friday evening. I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors, proofreading is not my strength.
Oh, please comment away!
All CHIKARA events can be purchased on DVD at www.SmartMarkVideo.com
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